Everyone Loves a Parade!

So I have lived in Central PA for 15 years now and this year was the very first time I got to experience the Harrisburg Holiday Parade.

I recall making plans to take Kendall last year only to have the weather turn out to be about 20 below zero--so we passed. This year the Weather Channel was predicting temperatures in the 50s with sunny skies. So we layered on our thermals, grabbed some snacks and blankets and headed into downtown Harrisburg for some serious parade watching.

We managed to get there early enough to snag curbside seats just down from the main grandstand near the beginning of the parade route. Kendall loved the marching bands, the cheerleaders and the giant Balloons! (Esp. Cookie Monster). She also made a haul with candy canes, cookies and other assorted sweets. Although the weather turned a bit chilly --we stuck it out for the full 2 hours until we got to see Santa in his sleigh at the very end. This may become a new holiday tradition (weather permitting...)

Santa

Then and Now

Its beginning to look...

a lot like Christmas????

Ok I have to admit--I really dislike having to deal with Christmas music and holiday shopping and decorations the minute trick or treating is over. Indeed I try to stick to the "No Christmas Until After Thanksgiving!!" rule most years.

Otherwise, by the time mid-December rolls around I have about had enough.

While this year is generally no different--I decided to relax the rules just a bit so we could enjoy an unseasonable warm Saturday at Hersheypark's Christmas candylane. I have to admit, taking in the decorations and enjoying the rides was MUCH more enjoyable in the 50- 60 degree weather than the bitter cold of years past.

Unfortunately, most of the park is shut down for Christmas leaving generally kiddie rides and shows. But we still had fun taking it all in. Of course the longest line in the park was to see Santa. Kendall announced she wanted to do it so we waited. While she sat willingly on his lap she still wouldn't speak to him. One of these days...

She did however do better than the night before when we ran into Santa at the Hershey Bears hockey game...







Note: This year Hersheypark is advertising a special "NOEL" choreographed "holiday lights spectacular" in Comet Hollow. We happened to time perfectly a trip on the skyride over the lights to catch one of the performances. If you have ever seen Disney's Osborne Lights (heck if you have ever seen that one video of the house on youtube) you will be left scratching your head and wondering "that was it?" it was actually almost comical to us that they set up some bleachers near the lights for people to sit and watch the "performance". While it was cute--I wouldn't make a special trip to see them. trust me. they evidently "perform every half hour. We recommend timing a trip on the skyride... It was also disappointing to find out that the Christmas show in the Music Box theater was the exact same one from last year.

MyPod...

How is it that my 6 year old has a nicer iPod than I do??

After weeks of research and debate, back in October I broke down and bought Jeff an iPhone for his birthday. I have to admit--the thing is cool. The most used app so far has got to be "More Toast" however. :)


After moving all his music to his new phone, Jeff decided to load all of Kendall's CD's onto his old iPod for her. She has been walking around jamming to the tunes of Hanna Montana, the Jonas Brothers and the ever popular Bob and Larry ever since.

Remember When...

the best part of fall was jumping in a big pile of leaves???

Kendall has been telling us for weeks that we needed some bigger trees in our yard so we would have leaves for her to jump in.

Saturday Daddy decided to take her down to Grandma Myers' to help rake up all her leaves. Kendall had a ball climbing a tree, jumping in the leaves and having a leaf fight with Grandma (and Grandma had lots of help cleaning up the leaves in her yard...)

Hersheypark in the Dark and the Wiz

We surprised Kendall on October 31 with tickets to see the Wizard of Oz at the Hershey Theater. Our plan was to hit the show and then (weather permitting) take one final trip to Hersheypark before it closed to get ready for Christmas.

The Wizard was cute despite the fact that the theater was uncomfortably warm. Kendall seemed to enjoy it (she really liked Toto!) although it got a little long in parts. When we left the theater it was raining but we decided to chance it at the park anyway.

After a stop at chocolate world, we ducked into the music box theater to see the Halloween show to get out of the rain. When we emerged 30 minutes later, the rain had stopped and it was turning into a gorgeous night to be at the park. Dressed as an adorable Minnie Mouse Kendall managed to snag another bag full of Hershey goodies at "treatville" and then we hit the rides. Even though it was a Saturday night, the rains must have kept the crowds away because there were no lines again anywhere!

On our last visit--Kendall measured in at JUST a Hershey bar which opened up a whole new set of rides for her to experience. We used that to our advantage to hit as many roller coasters in the park as we could including the Wild Mouse, Lightening Racer, the Wild Cat, The Comet, the Trail Blazer, the Sooper Dooper Looper and even the Sidewinder! By the end Mommy's stomach clearly had had enough....

Trick or Treat!

Kendall had a hard time deciding what to wear for Halloween this year. Rather than tell her we would buy her a new costume, I dragged out all her old ones that still fit to pick from. Early on she was stuck on being Ariel, but I think she was holding out in the hopes I would cave and let her wear the skimpy Barbie cheerleader costume. (Seriously--I bought it on super clearance for her to play dress up with in the house. It baffles my mind that some parent might actually let their child out in public dressed like that...). I was pushing the Gabriella costume (from High School Musical) that I bought her last year and she never wore. She was evidently concerned that no one would know who she was supposed to be...

In the end she went back to the High School Musical cheerleader costume from last year. She hit the neighborhood for the full 2 hours with Daddy while Mommy stayed home to hand out candy. We got LOTS of trick or treaters this year--so many that we ran out of goodies (even after Mommy grabbed some random things from the pantry) at around 7:30.

Later that week we sorted the candy and two LARGE bags went into work with Mommy and Daddy but we still have LOTS left...